Tag Archives: medical marijuana

The mile high club may soon take on a new meaning as states continue to liberalize their marijuana laws. Although it’s a try-it-at-your-own-risk scenario, airplane passengers in certain situations are being permitted to carry marijuana on board, even if TSA agents sniff out the drugs. It’s never technically altogether legal to fly on commercial airlines with weed because the airports all fall under federal jurisdiction, and marijuana is still illegal under federal law. However, TSA policy and anecdotal reports suggest …

Medical marijuana dispensaries have been raided and shuttered with such regularity in recent years that they spark only the occasional protest. But when Michigan’s Children’s Protective Services took 6-month-old Brielle “Bree” Green from her parents because her mother is a medical marijuana caregiver, activists sprang into action. Several organizations gathered this month to support parents Gordon “Steve” and Maria Green, and to protest Bree’s removal. Charmie Gholson, founder of Michigan Moms United, told the Lansing State Journal the Greens are “good, …

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Melinda Haag is known for aggressively closing medical marijuana dispensaries, seizing property under forfeiture laws. California law allows medical patients and their designated primary caregivers to legally possess and grow marijuana. (But they cannot sell or distribute it.) Marijuana is still considered an illegal substance under federal law. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is reforming drug laws, reducing sentences of low level drug offenders. He also says the federal government will not …

Deputy Attorney General James Cole defended the Department of Justice’s decision to allow state-level legalization of marijuana, testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that such states’ “regulatory schemes must be tough in practice, not just on paper.” The hearing, scheduled by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman and Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, was called to address the conflict between federal law and those of Colorado and Washington, whose citizens voted to legalize recreational marijuana last November. In his opening statement, Leahy …

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, one of four federal attorneys behind the nearly two-year crackdown on medical marijuana in California, suggested her enforcement will continue despite new drug policy guidance from the Department of Justice. Attorney General Eric Holder announced in late August that the federal government won’t sue to block state laws legalizing marijuana in various forms, including the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington. An accompanying memo issued by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole identified eight …